Jon Jones Pulls Out Of UFC 170

When asked if Jones was injured, White said no. Jones’ reason for withdrawing from the match has yet to be disclosed.

“He won’t fight February 22,” White said at Thursday’s UFC 167 press conference. “It might be March now.” White also said that a new main event match was being sought for UFC 170.

It was initially reported that Jones and Teixeira would headline UFC 169, the promotion’s annual Super Bowl weekend card. White said that fight was “never a done deal” and that the two would meet later in the year.

According to Bleacher Report, the fight was nixed to give Jones more time to recover following his victory against Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 165. The 26-year-old, who passed former light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz for most consecutive title defenses, was taken to the hospital after the match for a left foot injury suffered early in the match. The bout earned “Fight of the Night.”

After UFC 165, there was talk of an immediate rematch between Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson, but UFC matchmakers decided to give the champion a new opponent. Jones personally requested to fight the 33-year-old Brazilian, who has gone undefeated in his brief UFC career. Teixeira made his promotional debut at UFC 146 last May, beating Kyle Kingsbury by arm triangle choke submission.

Jones also joked that it would be his “honor” to beat up Incognito, and that he would start threatening him on Twitter. While he wasn’t being serious, Jones was clearly bothered by Incognito’s comments.